TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 14, 2011) - Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (TSX VENTURE:PTU) provided an update on Rio Tinto's advancement of Purepoint's Red Willow Project under the option agreement described in Purepoint's news release of December 21, 2010. Rio Tinto outlined their comprehensive data integration approach to identifying deposits at the recently held first meeting of the joint Technical Committee. That approach was initiated this winter by Rio Tinto with the preparation of an interpretive 3D wire frame model.
"Rio Tinto is applying their considerable expertise to this project through an interpretation of the entire region" said Scott Frostad, Purepoint's Vice President, Exploration. "Integrating Purepoint's extensive geophysical, geochemical and diamond drill data within a regional 3D model will provide a fresh interpretation of the property's potential while confirming and prioritizing exploration targets for ongoing work".
Rio Tinto's Project Generation Group is acting as a collaborative partner and resource in reviewing Red Willow's historical geochemistry results and proposing different approaches to interpretation of the data.
Highlights
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The 3D model incorporating geological data (lithology, structure and alteration) and geophysical data (including inversions) is near completion;
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The Red Willow Technical Committee expects to review preliminary results of the model at Rio Tinto's 3D Visualization Centre in Salt Lake City in June 2011;
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The Geneva and Osprey Zones have provided the baseline focus of the 3D model development thus far;
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Two drill holes were completed in Geneva Zone in early 2011 in order to validate initial geophysical and structural interpretations. Further fieldwork, possibly including ground geophysics and additional drilling, may be undertaken during Summer 2011 to further validate the interpretive 3D model;
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Based on the development of the model and new data from fieldwork in the summer, a more substantive drill program on exploration targets identified by the refined 3D model and interpretation will be planned for Winter 2012.
Geneva Zone
The two 2011 drill holes were collared 45 metres apart on the west side of Geneva Lake to validate initial geophysical and structural interpretations. Geneva Lake was interpreted as being a depression formed over the intersection of the north-northeast striking Jake Fault and the northeast striking Geneva Fault. The results of the drilling will be utilized in the interpretive 3D wireframe model of the Geneva Zone. An alteration zone encountered by GEN11-01 within the sandstone correlated with a resistivity low anomaly and GEN11-02 intersected significant structures in the basement rocks as initially interpreted. The presence of pyrrhotite in the bottom of both holes may help explain the presence of the magnetic high / gravity high anomaly in this area. No anomalous radioactivity was intersected by these two holes.
The Geneva Zone is located near the southwest corner of the Red Willow property. An airborne electromagnetic (EM) survey delineated 3.8 kilometers of conductors that are within a distinct fold structure highlighted by the aeromagnetic results and on trend with the Mallen Lake uranium showing (5.9% U3O8 over 0.3m).
Red Willow
The Red Willow property covers 25,612 hectares on the eastern edge of the Athabasca Basin. The Athabasca sandstone is shallow and the depth to unconformity varies from 0 to 80 metres. The basement rocks are composed of intensely deformed and metamorphosed sedimentary, volcanic and plutonic rocks trending NE to SW. Five major uranium deposits are located along a NE to SW mine trend that extends through the Red Willow Project. To date only six of Red Willow's 21 delineated target zones have been subject to first pass drilling.
The Red Willow property adjoins AREVA Resource Canada Inc.'s claim group that contains the JEB, Sue, McClean and Caribou deposits to the west and, to the south adjoins UEX's Hidden Bay property that surrounds Cameco Corporation's Rabbit Lake, Collins Bay and Eagle Point deposits.
About Purepoint
Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. is focused on the precision exploration of its twelve projects in the Canadian Athabasca Basin. Purepoint proudly maintains project ventures in the Basin with the three largest uranium producers in the world, Cameco Corporation, AREVA and Rio Tinto. Established in the Athabasca Basin well before the initial resurgence in uranium earlier last decade, Purepoint is actively advancing a large portfolio of multiple drill targets in the world's richest uranium region.
Scott Frostad BSc, MASc, PGeo, Purepoint's Vice President, Exploration, is the Qualified Personresponsible for technical content of this release.